


Terezi Pyrope and the Goblet of Shameless Shipping

by Roxrezi (sovereignProviso)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Hogwarts, Humanstuck, Potterstuck, Teridan, Tri Wizard Tournament, Yule Ball, karezi (ment), neprezi - Freeform, vrisfef - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6463054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sovereignProviso/pseuds/Roxrezi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hh well OK this started off as a small drabble in google docs, but then I was reminded about how the only Teridan fic out there is Herding Cats (and while that is a good fic I also feel a little cheated by how it all ends). SO here is my contribution to this amazing but oh so rare ship.<br/>I also thought it would be fun to merge two of my favourite things into one, even if none of the canon storyline from Harry Potter is really all that relevant. But the 4th book/film has always been my favourite, so get prepped for some Human Potterstuck, my friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really not too sure how this all spiralled out of hand with more than one chapter, but I guess I just can't write anything shorter than a whole fucking story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So much shameless shipping. It will get gayer, I promise you.

Christmas was coming up, and all throughout Hogwarts there was a hum of excitement. Usually the students didn't bother with staying over for the holidays, instead going back home to their families and loved ones to celebrate the season. Not this year though. 

This year was special; Hogwarts was hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament. More importantly, especially right now, was that with the tournament came the Yule Ball. A fancy, prestigious dance that was held on Christmas Eve in the tournament's host school. It was a chance to ‘enjoy yourselves and let your hair down’ as Professor Sassacre had told the students over dinner. Of course that statement had been met with sniggers and muffled laughs, as the headmaster pretty much ‘let his hair down’ 24/7. As strict as he was, Professor Sassacre was frequently seen joining in with the elderly school poltergeist and her cunning pranks. 

Ever since the announcement had been made, the atmosphere in the castle had changed. Some girls burst out into fits of giggles as soon as a boy was a 20 metre radius of them; other girls and a few boys were found trying to summon up the courage to ask their crush to be their date; and lone boys walked desperately past a hysterical group of girls with a forlorn look on their face. It was teen angst drama mayhem.

Terezi Pyrope wasn't actually bothered about the whole thing. Sure, it would be fun and kind of exciting to be able to attend a ball like ones she had read about in muggle fairytales; but if she had no date then she would be completely fine going by herself. She and Nepeta had made a pact that if even one of them didn't have a date, then they would just dance with each other. 

“Terezi? Did you even hear me just now??” Nepeta asked her, the Leijon sending her an incredulous look. She blinked, turning her head towards her friend and sending her a sheepish grin. Terezi had definitely not been listening to her friend, and instead had been absent-mindedly chewing on her quill as she gazed with glassy eyes into the fire before them.

“Shit, no.” Terezi said apologetically. “What were you asking?” Nepeta let out a huff of frustration and leaned back into the red sofa they were both currently lounging on. 

The Gryffindor common room was actually pretty busy for this time of night, but Terezi pinned that down to the fact that the holidays were quickly drawing in. As Nepeta was complaining about how no one ever fucking listened to her, Terezi watched as Cronus tried (and failed yet again) to get another person to kiss him with his charmed mistletoe. 

“Terezi!!!” Nepeta said in exasperation, shoving her shoulder to get her attention once again. Terezi rolled her eyes and put her essay on the goblin rebellions on the coffee table before turning her full attention to her friend. 

“Go on.”

“Okay, finally.” She retorted, rolling her own essay up and placing it next to Terezi’s. “I was actually going to ask you if you had eyes on anyone for the ball.”

Terezi should have supposed that Nepeta was going to ask. She liked to think of herself as some kind of matchmaker and was always sticking her nose into Terezi’s affairs. Sinking back into the soft cushions of the sofa, she studied the other girl carefully. Nepeta was grinning at her sweetly, propping her chin up with a hand. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought Nepeta was also wiggling her eyebrows playfully at her.

“Do you?” Terezi asked, realising that it was probably a loaded question.

“Well, what if I was to tell you someone had already asked me?” Nepeta purred, twisting a bleached blonde curl of hair around her finger. 

“I would probably say they were an idiot not to.”

“I know! I said yes, by the way.”

“You did?” Terezi was a bit taken aback by this. What if she didn’t get a date? Not that it really mattered, but she really didn’t fancy third-wheeling. “Who was it?” As she spoke, her friend’s grin widened and she tapped an index finger to her nose. 

“All in good time, you nosey dork. I’ll let you know when you answer my question.” 

“I- Hmm.” Terezi said in response, her hand lifting instinctively to her lower lip and tugging at it. 

In truth, there wasn’t really anyone she could instantly think of to be her potential date. Sure, there were good looking people in their year, and the year above. However, none of them had really struck her as date material. The only ones she would consider to be even close to date material were really close friends, and honestly that would be way too weird. Vriska, for example, was very good looking even if she was full of bullshit, but those two had been friends since 1st year and it would just be venturing into uncanny valley to think of her as anything other than a close friend. 

Of course, that was just in the three acceptable houses of Hogwarts. There was no point looking at Slytherin house for a potential date, they were all snobbish and up their own ass one way or another. That, and the whole of her house would probably reject her if she even thought about it. Slytherin was the ultimate rival of Gryffindor house, constantly competing against them for literally everything. In quiddich matches, she regularly found herself having to dive out of the way of a purposely aimed bludger, or even swerve away from projectiles and spells flying out from a particularly nasty brawl starting out in the stands of students. 

Slytherins did whatever they could to make sure they could get their own way, and kicked up a bitch fit as soon as it was looking that they might not. The only one Terezi could really stand was Feferi, but even then there was something about how she preached about uniting muggles and wizards together that put her a little on edge. 

No, there was no way she would want to even look at a Slytherin, let alone dance with one.

As for the other two schools, Terezi didn't really know anyone all that well. Even though this whole thing was about bringing all of the students together, she did feel a little dubious about being in close quarters with a complete stranger.

“Are the people at this school really that bad??” Nepeta asked, sniggering a little at the look of disgust on Terezi’s face. 

“Just about.” Terezi concluded, cracking a smile. “So are you going to tell me who you're going with or what??”

“Fine okay, so Dave asked me.” Nepeta said. “Well, it was more like I asked him casually in the dining hall, then he rushed off and came back later on in the day when I was in the library and started rapping about how he’s saying yes or whatever. Then we got kicked out of the Library for being too loud.”

“Holy shit, you and the coolkid??” 

“Yeah, weird isn't it?”

“Definitely, but I'm happy for you two dorks. Now we just have to worry about me being a third wheel.” Terezi said, only partially joking about the last bit.

“Ah, you’ll be fine. You're pretty damn good looking, I’m sure you have your fair share of secret admirers!” Nepeta retorted, waving away her friend’s statement with her hand. “If you want, I could always set you up with someone?”

“You would probably just set me up with Karkat, don’t lie.” 

“You two could have a nice thing going on!!”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Terezi replied, cringing at the thought. 

Back in the 3rd year, she and Karkat had had a ‘thing’. But as all preteen romances usually go, it was short-lived and awkward as fuck. They were still friends though, even though Terezi had the most sneaking suspicion he totally still had a thing for her. 

“Anyway, even if you don't get a date I’ll still dance with you and everything. Also, I’m sure there will be a load of people going without a date, maybe you could snag someone while you're there?” Nepeta suggested, raising her eyebrows.

“Possibly.” Terezi said, musing over it. 

“Sassacre mentioned that this year’s was going to be a masquerade, I’m sure that would add a load of intrigue if you did go alone.” Nepeta added.

“That whole thing is so fucking clichéd I'm surprised that Karkat didn't have some kind of say in that matter, honestly. It sounds like something that would come straight out of his dumb muggle romance movies.” Terezi laughed, tucking her legs underneath her on the couch.

As she sat there, she kept thinking about the ball. It was fucking dumb how it was taking over every single aspect of the Castle life, especially when she had her goblin essay to be worrying about. 

Terezi let out a small sigh as she tried to ignore the small voice nagging her in the back of her head. She would get a date, and even if she didn't she would go to the ball and have a great time. If worse came to worst and she had to call in desperate measures, there was always the option to ask out Cronus.

She had to seriously repress a shudder at this thought, maybe it would be less shameful to turn up alone in that case. It wasn’t that Cronus was bad looking, in fact it was quite the opposite, he was just an asshole. Actually, that was something she had noticed about his whole family; especially his younger brother, who was in her year. But as a Slytherin, he was way out of the question. In the distance, she could hear Nepeta begin to talk about enchanted masks or voice changers or whatever, and although she nodded along at the right times, she wasn't really listening (again).


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I sink further down into the bin of sin. The sin bin, if you will.  
> VrisFef is a thing, Terezi gets a mysterious letter, all is heating up in my very self indulgent fanfic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who commented and gave it a like!! (Kudos? who knows they're the same thing)
> 
> Here's the next chapter in this shameless shipfest.

As the days went past, it wasn’t uncommon to see people being pulled aside for a discrete proposal in the common room or the hallways. A bit less common, but certainly the most entertaining, were when someone would go all out asking their potential date for the dance. 

One chilly monday afternoon, Terezi and Nepeta were making their way to Potions when a sudden explosion of flowers appeared around the corridor. As Terezi whipped around to try and find the source, a loud yelling erupted from the area with the highest density of flowers. 

“Holy carp!! I think I just got asked to the ball!” A shrill voice pierced through the gathering students, and as Terezi watched, the flowers gracefully fell down to the floor and revealed Feferi Peixes clutching a piece of paper in her hand. To her amusement, Terezi also noticed that as the flowers hit the stone floor, they transformed into of spiders and scuttled through the throng of kids.

“Hey, let me see that.” Another voice called out. Unlike the sweet, high pitched tone of Feferi, this voice was more balanced and definitely a whole lot more up its own ass. Eridan Ampora pushed through the mingled students to get to Feferi and read the note over her shoulder with a look of disdain on his face. 

“Well?” Feferi asked, looking at him in excited anticipation. “Aren’t you happy for me??”

“Probably would be happy if it wasn’t fuckin Serket.” He responded, not even trying to hide the contempt in his voice.

As wary as she was about the Slytherins, the look on Feferi’s face at that point rustled Terezi’s jimmies in the worst way possible. Just because Eridan was somehow notorious for being shot down about a billion times, it didn’t mean that he had to be a total tool when his best friend actually got a date. 

Terezi shot the pompous prick a glare and was about to say something about the situation when she felt herself being jerked away from the scene by Nepeta. Apparently she had some 6th sense that helped her know when shit was about to fly, because as soon as Terezi had opened her mouth, she was met with a sharp tug and her friend’s voice in her mouth.

“Not again, Terezi. We’re going to be late for Professor Lalonde.” She hissed as Terezi was dragged down towards their potions classroom in the dungeons.

She was right, of course. As nice as Professor Lalonde was, she absolutely hated anyone being late. Anyone that dared to defy her ended up getting hit with savage comments throughout the whole lesson, and was made to do especially difficult tasks.

They both made it to the class in good time however, and settled down in their usual seats. Unfortunately, they had to share the class with the Slytherins and throughout the whole lesson, Terezi had to hear about Feferi gushing about her date to anyone who would listen while Eridan tutted disapprovingly in the background.

Every chance she got, Terezi found herself glowering over in the general direction of the younger Ampora. She wished she could have said something to him to shut him up earlier, but if she had they would probably have been stuck there for at least half an hour shit talking each other. 

It wasn’t that she hated him. Of course she despised his morals and his attitude and his stupid snooty tone of voice, but he was a decent wizard. She couldn’t fault him for his skills. Also it really wasn’t fair that he was so good looking.

He was still a complete wanker though, as well as a dirty Slytherin. Even if his dorky purple highlight did look really good on him in a dumb way. He just wasn’t worth her time.

Suddenly she snapped out of her thoughts and realised she had been glaring at the said Slytherin this whole time. Not only that, but he had definitely noticed. She quickly stuck her tongue out at him and looked away over to what Professor Lalonde was doing. 

After a few seconds, she stole another quick glance over at Eridan. To her surprise, he had stopped ‘tsk’ing at Feferi’s joy, and had suddenly taken a really great interest in his green and silver scarf. It was strange, but Terezi brushed it off. It wasn’t as if him being weird was an odd occasion- or being interested in stupid scarves either for that matter. The rest of the lesson went along without any other incidents, although Terezi did notice that Eridan made sure that he definitely did not look remotely in her direction again.

The next few days were full of the same kind of faffing about, but now with a lot more tinsel. On the monday of the last week of term, the students and guests of Hogwarts awoke to the castle adorned in decorations and enchanted suits of armour that would sing christmas carols as you passed by them in the corridors. In the mornings, the owls would bring in a light dusting of snow with the morning post. Which, admittedly did make the letters and newspapers a little bit soggy.

It was three days before the Christmas holidays started, and just over a week until Christmas Eve and the Yule Ball. As Terezi sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat her breakfast, she let her eyes roam around the new additions to the usual decor of the hall. Whoever had decorated the place seemed to be going all out to show off for the visiting schools, as Terezi noticed that The great hall looked even flashier than it usually did around this time of the year. The christmas trees looked much taller and dazzling than usual, and she was almost certain that there were pixies or fairies flitting about the branches. God, they were such little shits.

Just as she reached her hand out to grab some cherry juice, a rather important-looking owl came to rest on the rim of her cereal bowl. Terezi rarely got post. There would be the annual birthday cards and gifts at the end of September; maybe a letter from home when something important happened; and the occasional anonymous (although she was pretty damn sure they were always from Karkat) Valentines letter on the 14th of April. But other than that, that was it for her. Not that she minded though, she wasn’t usually one for writing out long-winded letters to her mother every month like her sister did. But then, Latula was a Hufflepuff and they were all about bonds and loyalty and finding things or some bullshit. 

Needless to say, the medium sized bird swooping down on her Frosted Wheats caused her to yell out a loud ‘Holy shit’, before she composed herself and shooed the owl off of her bowl and on to the table. As interested as she was about why it was there, she didn’t want it dropping feathers into her breakfast as added toppings.

The bird stood proudly before her as it lifted up its leg so she could untie the letter. Terezi fumbled a bit with the teal ribbon the letter was attached with, taking longer than she assumed the bird wanted to wait, as it started tutting its beak at her almost impatiently. 

“Yeah okay, pipe down there birdbrain.” Terezi mumbled to it as she finally freed the letter from the owl’s leg and it flew off, but not before it gave her a very disapproving look.

“What have you got there?” Nepeta asked, having only just arrived to the table.

“Have a little lie-in, did we?” Terezi countered, raising her eyebrow at her friend as she sat down next to her.

“It’s not my fault if my a sunbeam just happened to be right on my bed! The urge to catnap is almost impossible to resist.”

“Bullshit, it’s the middle of winter.”

“Don’t you get logical with me, Miss Pyrope.” Nepeta said, raising her own eyebrows back at Terezi. “Now why don’t you get to the matter at hand and open up that letter??”

“Yeah, alright.” Terezi replied, as she wiggled her eyebrows and turned her attention back to the mysterious envelope in her hand. 

This looked way too fancy to be a regular message from her mother. The envelope itself was a metallic silver colour, that turned to an equally metallic gold when the paper caught the light. Just that was impressive by itself, if she was going to be completely honest. 

As she studied the front of the envelope, she realised she had seen the handwriting before. However, wanting to confirm her suspicions before she came to a conclusion, she hastily opened it up and read the letter inside. After reading it once, she pulled a confused face and read it again just to make sure she was reading this shit correctly.

_Miss Pyrope,_

_I have admired you from afar for too long, as in my current position I cannot simply ask you to go to the Yule Ball with me. I only ask that you trust me, and this letter. I have had feelings for you, I always have. But to admit so would cause a ripple of effects that I’m not able to deal with. With that out of the way, I wish to ask you: Will you, Terezi Pyrope, join me at the Yule Ball, as a date? I implore you to consider carefully, for my heart is set on going to the Yule Ball with you, and only you. I know that an anonymous letter may not seem trustworthy, which is why I have enclosed this: A corsage enchanted to last until eternity, as fragrant as when it was picked. I ask you to meet me at the Sundial Garden half an hour before the Ball begins. I will be there, waiting for you. If you do not arrive by the time the Ball starts, then I know your answer. I await with ample anticipation._

_Your Secret Admirer_

“What the shit is this sappy crap?” Terezi exclaimed, going back to the start and reading it again for the third time. There was no way that this was real. “Do you think someone’s trying to prank me?”

“What?! Let me see.” Nepeta said, taking the letter from her and scanning it quickly. 

Terezi didn't need to ask when the other girl had finished reading the letter. As soon as she had, Nepeta let out a loud and very high pitched squeal and thrust the letter back in Terezi’s hand.

“So? What do you think?” Terezi asked, carefully studying Nepeta’s face.

“I think you’ve got yourself a date!!” Her friend yelled, grinning ecstatically. “This is the kind of stuff that only happens in fantasies! You’ve got to go and meet them.”

“Yeah, maybe your fantasies have this shit in them.” She mumbled in reply as she chewed on her bottom lip. “I just can’t help feeling like I’ve seen this handwriting before.”

“You know, now that you mention it…” Nepeta said, leaning over Terezi’s shoulder to take another look at the letter, “I think I recognise it too.”

“You do?”

“Isn’t this the same handwriting as the one on all those dumb Valentines cards you’ve been getting?”

“Shit.” Terezi said, making the connection now that Nepeta had pointed it out. “Hold on, I have to talk to someone.”

Without waiting for an answer, Terezi got up and made her way over to the Hufflepuff table. If it was the same handwriting as the sappy cards she got, then there was only one person she was sure that it could be. How could anyone else think of something as cliché as this?

“Oh, Terezi. Everything alright?” Karkat said as he looked up from his toast. Upon seeing her disgruntled expression, he put down his copy of The Daily Prophet and sent her a quizzical look. 

“Did you, by any chance, send me a letter this morning?” Terezi asked, unable to hide her annoyance through her sarcastic tone of voice. She looked down at him as she spoke, quickly flashing him the letter she still had in her hand.

“That one?” He replied, nodding to her hand.

“No, the one I somehow magically managed to flush down the toilet.”

“No.”

“No?” She asked incredulously, her arms crossing across her chest in disbelief.

“Yeah, I didn’t send you any letter, fuckface.” He replied, starting to get a little annoyed.

“But It’s your handwriting!” Terezi said, shoving the letter at him so he could read it.

As Karkat read through the letter, Terezi noticed that he seemed to freeze, all traces of his frustration gone for a split second. When he seemed to compose himself, he almost looked like he was hurt over something. Fuck knows what it could be though, especially since he totally wrote it-

“That’s definitely not my handwriting.” He finally said, flashing the letter a small glare. “Can you get this bullshit out of my face now?”

“I don’t understand.” Terezi said slowly, carefully taking back the letter and putting it in her robe’s pocket. “Who else would think of something as sappy as that?”

“Ok first off, fuck you. Secondly, who cares? It was probably someone trying to trick you or whatever.” He mumbled in reply, quickly stuffing the rest of his toast in his mouth before standing up. “I’ll see you in Herbology.”

Terezi just stood there as she watched him walk off down The great hall and out of the doors. Could she really believe him when he denied being the sender? The only problem with it all was that it was such a Karkat thing to do. He was forever watching disgustingly soppy muggle romcoms in his spare time, at least half of his collection would have something like this scenario in it.

But if he was telling the truth, then who could it have been? And furthermore, who the fuck had been sending her Valentines cards every year if it wasn’t him? 

This was too much bullshit for a Tuesday morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok when I said thanks to everyone who commented I definitely didn't include that one person who tried to argue that I, ME, didn't know how to characterise Terezi by putting her in Gryffindor.  
> I will take on constructive criticism, but don't just say I'm wrong and have no evidence to back yourself up. I could possibly see her POTENTIALLY being in Ravenclaw, but she really wouldn't fit in there. She values kicking ass way more than outsmarting people. Just an FYI.
> 
> If anyone wants me to go into more detail on who's in what house and why (yes, I have everyone sorted) I will be more than willing to tell them!!
> 
> Once again, feel free to leave comments and CONSTRUCTIVE feedback!! Love you all (but i am 100% salt) <33


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi gets her dress; the potions class makes Amortentia; the term ends. One more horribly self indulgent chapter for my horribly self indulgent fanfic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooops, this was a little late. But I'm sure you can all forgive me for being distracted with revision and cosplay and whatnot.

Terezi wasn’t sure how she got to this point, or even if she believed that letter was genuine, but somehow Nepeta had convinced her to travel down to Hogsmeade. Usually, this would be fine. She loved to go to Zonko’s and The Three Broomsticks, but for this particular trip, she was going dress shopping.

“You know, I would much prefer to wear a suit and tie or whatever.” Terezi complained, brushing her hands along the seemingly endless rails of dresses.

“Honestly, Terezi,” Nepeta said, slapping her hand away from the dresses, “It’s a ball! You have to dress up, and not in a boring old suit.”

“How come there isn’t a way to just magic up a dress anyway? We transformed rats into goblets the first year.” 

“Because you need to shut up and look presentable for once.” Her friend countered as they turned a corner in the shop and found an assistant. 

“Ah, hello ladies. How may I help you today?” The assistant asked, flashing them both a smile that was almost too cheerful. 

“We’d just like to look for some dresses for the Yule ball.” Nepeta said, tugging Terezi forwards as she spoke. “Could you take a look at my friend here first?”

The man nodded and took Terezi over to stand on a podium in the middle of an open area. As soon as she stepped onto the podium, there was a small squeak of metal against metal, and at least 7 different dresses floated over to present themselves in front of her. Of course, the damn thing was enchanted; probably to take her measurements and what colours she would suit etc. Funnily enough, all the dresses were varying shades of teal and red.

Terezi didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the time she spent in the shop, having gone through all the dresses and picking out one that didn’t look half bad on her. Nepeta ended up getting an array of green and olive dresses, although she probably could have predicted that. It was a perfect colour for her tan skin. 

It went without saying that she was more than relieved when they both got out of the dress shop, and made their way to The Three Broomsticks. Their dresses were to be sent to the castle as soon as they were adjusted for height and other things Terezi wasn’t listening to.

Flopping down into a booth, Terezi waited for Nepeta to get back with their butterbeers and took this opportunity to take a look round and see if there was anyone she knew there. Over in the corner, Terezi spotted Karkat and John and a few other Hufflepuffs having fun with a very intense-looking game of exploding snap. An elated laugh escaped her mouth as the cards exploded in John’s face and he knocked over his pumpkin juice in surprise. What a fucking dork.

As she moved her eyes away from the scene, she couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching her from somewhere in the room. Terezi flicked her gaze around the pub until she found what she was searching for. By the fire, there was a bunch of Slytherins probably chatting shit about Professor Nitram, and as she continued to observe them, a certain person’s attention kept moving between their conversation and her general direction. To her surprise, it was the dark and serious gaze of Eridan Ampora. Why he was looking over at her, she didn’t know, but she figured she could have a little fun with it.

For a moment, Terezi pretended to be looking at something on the wall above the fire, just to lull him into a sense of security. The next time she felt his gaze burning into her, she snapped her eyes to meet his and flashed him a sly, dragon-like grin and waved. She wasn’t sure what happened after that, as Nepeta suddenly came out from nowhere and proudly presented the pint of butterbeer she had got for Terezi. 

“Who were you waving at?” Nepeta asked, taking a seat opposite Terezi in the booth.

“Oh, no one. Just trying to fluster some nerd.” She replied, taking a long sip of the sweet beverage before her. 

“I’d be careful about who you mess about with now, Tez. Who knows?? They could be your mystery admirer.”

“Trust me, I’m pretty sure that it’s not this particular guy.” Terezi said, sniggering at the thought of it.

“I’m just saying!” Nepeta said, raising an eyebrow pointedly as she drank from her butterbeer. 

As much as she hated to admit it, Terezi had to agree that Nepeta had a point. However, the chances of her mystery admirer being someone like Eridan Ampora was almost laughable. In fact, she _had_ laughed about it, so it was proven entirely hilarious. 

Terezi then took a moment to think about it. Hypothetically speaking, if it actually was someone like Eridan, how would she even react? More to the point, how would everyone react if they saw them together? Granted, there would be some kind of enchantment on the masks to make their identities a secret, but a mask can only do so much work in concealing who the person behind it is. 

For one, someone’s hair would be a tell-tale giveaway. She was sure that she was probably one of the few people currently in the school with gingery-blonde locks. Well, some of the Beauxbatons girls had similar coloured hair, but there were a lot more differences between them all besides that one common factor. 

Another giveaway would be someone’s voice, or their stature, or just simply their eyes. Apparently the first thing you recognise about someone is their eyes. Terezi thought that was a strange fact, but it kind of made sense. You can’t change your eyes easily, or not fully at least. If someone desperately wanted to, they could probably put a charm on the irises or use coloured contacts, but even then the shape of them would still be the same. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Nepeta asked, snapping Terezi out of her train of thought.

“Just thinking about the masks for the ball,” Terezi replied, realising she had been staring into her partially drained drink, and snapping her eyes up to meet her friend’s, “how well do you think they’ll hide who you are?”

“Who knows? But considering that they’ve been going all-out so far I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some crazy enchantments on them.”

“I also probably wouldn’t be surprised if Sassacre had placed softcore hexes on some of them just to prank people.” Terezi said, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Oh god, let’s hope we avoid those ones.” Nepeta snorted.

The last two days of term were hectic as fuck. Terezi had honestly expected them to be full of silly christmas activities, but apparently the teachers were having none of it. The only one that seemed to let them off the hook was Professor Lalonde in potions. While she was sure the Professor had their best interests at heart, Terezi wasn’t exactly sure if teaching them how to successfully make a love potion was exactly the best way to go. Considering that she had someone who had been admiring her for ages, she figured she probably had a right to be a little on edge. 

While she was teaching the class, Professor Lalonde had told them that once the potion was ready, it would give off a scent of what was most appealing to you. Of course, this had got the whole class in a frenzy of asking what everyone else could smell. Feferi had proudly announced that she could smell orchids and blueberries; Aradia mentioned something about old leather and honey; and even Gamzee had chimed in with playdough and incense.

When questioned, Nepeta had told Terezi that she could smell damp bark, cinnamon, and for some reason vague hints of apple juice. Unsurprisingly, Dave had heard that last remark and flashed his yule date the cheesiest of winks imaginable. After rolling her eyes, Nepeta sent him a double pistols and left Terezi wondering why the fuck they hadn’t got together sooner.

Of course, Nepeta instantly interrogated Terezi on what she could pick up from the potion, but she had just brushed it off with a shrug and a vague answer about cherries. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her best friend, it was more that she didn’t know how to describe was she was smelling. Sure, she had definitely sniffed out a strong scent of cherry, but there were other things mixed in there too. For example, she could definitely pick out petrichor and fresh paint, along with artificial grape. But there was something else that lay underneath it all, and she wasn’t too sure how to process it. All she knew was that is smelled absolutely gorgeous, and she was sure she had smelled it somewhere before.

From across the classroom, Terezi could hear Feferi loudly quizzing Eridan on what he could smell, and suddenly she was really interested on what he had to say. Under the pretense of making sure the cauldron was at the right temperature, she unashamedly focused in on their conversation. 

While Feferi’s voice had been loud and energetic, Eridan’s tone was much more reserved and snooty, which made it a whole lot harder to rudely eavesdrop. Fortunately, she had been just close enough to their table to make out the words ‘lemonade’, ‘strawberries’, and ‘gingerbread’. 

She wasn’t really too sure why it had been so important to hear what he had to say. Usually, Terezi would have probably gone out of her way _not_ to hear that pompous arse go on about himself. Nevertheless, his answers had been odd. Someone like him should have smelled money, or even his own butt considering the amount of time he had his head stuck up it. Sweet and fruity things were more her kind of genre. She decided not to overthink it, but it was hard not to try and analyse why he was smelling gingerbread.

With the last day of the Christmas term finally over, Terezi flopped down on her bed in the Gryffindor dorms and let her eyes rest on the red and teal dress that was hanging up on her wardrobe. At the moment, she was the only one in the room, and took this rare opportunity to let her brain process everything that had been going on recently without distraction.

The whole deal with this mystery admirer was killing her. It was well known that she wasn’t a patient person, and having to wait another four days to find out who the fuck liked her was agonising. She could only imagine how different this person could be to have waited this long to let her know of their affections. That took a hell of a lot of patience. That, or they could have been scared as fuck. 

She guessed she couldn’t fault them on that one. Romance had never been one of her strong points. Even though she was a renowned flirtatious asshole with anyone who knew her, as soon as it came to actual crushes or romantic feelings in general she was pretty much a fucking mess. 

Nepeta was pretty much the opposite though. While she was utterly useless with casual flirting, as soon as she had a crush she was practically in her element. That went for other people too, for some reason. She always seemed to know when two people had feelings for each other, and was amazing at easing them both together.

Actually, now Terezi came to think about it, Nepeta was just brilliant with emotions in general. Herf friend always seemed to know the right things to say to make someone feel better when they were feeling down, unlike whatever the shit she ended up doing. It was weird, but as soon as feelings came into play, Terezi seemed to go on an emotional lockdown. 

Maybe that was why she was finding it so hard to figure out how she was supposed to react to this admirer. A large part of her kept insisting that it was all some part of a big elaborate joke, but the rest of her longed for it to be sincere.  
Hearing the door open behind her, Terezi dragged her eyes off the dress and towards the person entering the dorm. Nepeta’s head poked through the door and sent her a warm smile.

“Hey, you coming down to the great hall? It’s time for dinner.” 

“Yeah, I’ll follow you down in a sec.” Terezi replied, stretching out her limbs and slowly getting up from her bed. She watched as her friend nodded and left, the sound of the door clicking shut isolating her once again from the rest of the school. 

A sigh left her lips as she ran her fingertips down the material of her dress. As much as she hated getting dressed up, she did have to admit that she was slightly excited to get to wear something as pretty as this. She could only hope that she wouldn’t look like a complete twat when the time came.

Picking up her Gryffindor scarf, she made her way out of the dormitory and down to the great hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note, Petrichor is the smell of the rain after its been really hot for a long time. You know that smell? Of course you do. Unless you live somewhere where there's not a lot of rain or sun.  
> Actually, tbf it occurs when it first rains too, but that may just be me and my over-active nose. Idk, I can just kind of smell when it's going to rain.   
> Anyway! Thank you so much for reading this fanfic. Please feel free to leave any comments or /constructive/ feedback because I love hearing what people think of my work (Honestly though I didn't think people would even be all that interested but here we are and I thank you all <33 ).


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ball actually starts after like 3 chapters of buildup! Who will the mystery admirer be??? woooah??

This was it, the day had finally arrived. Upon waking up on christmas eve, all students currently residing in the castle had been greeted by a plain old eyemask and a note from Professor Sassacre himself. A particularly confused noise from Nepeta rudely woke Terezi up, and it didn’t take her long to find out the source of it.

“What are these?” She asked as she thoroughly inspected the stiff, grey accessory in her hands.

“What does it look like?? These are supposed to be our masks!” Nepeta exclaimed, clearly in some kind of distress.

“Hold on, weren’t they supposed to be enchanted?” 

“Read the note.” Aradia chimed in.

Curious as to what her dormmate meant, Terezi picked up the note from her bedside table and read it through.

_Dear student,_

_As you know, the Yule ball will be hosted tonight! The main theme of it being an enchanted masquerade. This is to take down the boundaries between our three schools, and allow for all students to socialise freely and without prejudice.  
You have all been provided with a standard mask. Yes, at first glance it may look a little underwhelming, but hells bells and gadzooks! As soon as you step through the door of the great hall, it will transform you into someone completely unrecognisable! With this in mind, do not alter the masks in any way; otherwise they will lose their enchantment (that means no trying to stick those fancy muggle sequins onto them)._

_Hoping to see you all at the ball tonight,  
Professor C. Sassacre _

It was interesting. More than interesting, in fact. Terezi had finished reading just a little faster than her friend had, so she had a moment of respite before a squeal left Nepeta’s lips and the girl pounced from her bed to tackle her. She couldn’t help laughing as the other girl started to babble excitedly about what her mask was going to transform into.

“Is it really that important, Nep?” Terezi asked, shoving Nepeta back a little bit to free up her personal space.

“Terezi Pyrope how dare you ask me such a question!” Nepeta replied, her tone tinged with mock hurt. “Ok, but really? I’m just majorly excited to see what Sassacre had in mind for me.”

“They’re probably just enchanted to suit your personality, rather than him enchanting each mask with specifics for every student.” Aradia said as she tried putting on her mask.

“Oh but that makes it soo much better,” Nepeta said, jumping off of Terezi’s bed in a way that was way too happy for a cold winter morning, “what will my personality look like on a mask!! How will it interpret me? The questions and the hype is pawsitively endless!!”

“Was that a cat pun?” Terezi asked, sniggering as she looked on incredulously at her friend.

“Oh, I guess it slipped out!” Nepeta gasped, quickly clapping a hand over her mouth.

“I like it.” Aradia laughed, starting to get dressed into her everyday clothes. Nepeta began to follow suit, and soon enough both girls were dressed and ready to face Hogwarts at 7am.

“Not getting up?” Nepeta questioned, raising an eyebrow at Terezi who’d absolutely refused to get out of bed.

“I’ll catch up with you in a couple of hours.” Terezi said, waving the other two girls away with her hand. 

She heard the others leave the room as she flopped back down onto the pillow. Today was the day, or rather it would be tonight. But now wasn’t really the time for semantics. Terezi’s stomach gave a few little flips as she let her mind dwell on it. No, she’d have plenty of time available to be nervous about it all later on in the day. For now, she let herself relax into the soft red sheets and drift back off to sleep.

The 11am sunlight streaming down from the window was what woke her up the second time. Golden beams rested on her eyes and coaxed her back to the conscious world. Terezi groaned as she rolled over, feeling rather unwilling to actually get out of her bed. But she eventually did after a couple more minutes basking in the quiet of the empty dorm.

After getting dressed, she hung around the common room for a bit. Conversations with Jane were always entertaining, and they shared a very similar mindset when it came to investigations. For a moment, she contemplated showing her friend the letter she’d gotten from her admirer. With both of them thinking over it, she was sure that they’d know who it was before they’d even have to think about getting ready for the ball.

Still, Terezi felt a small twinge when she thought about it. Had she really become complacent in this?? She was no romantic, but she couldn’t help think that it’d be much more interesting to try and figure out who this person was while they were before her. Plus, she always liked an air of mystery. Maybe that’s why her admirer had bothered with this whole charade. That, and they were probably a massive dork.

She caught up with Nepeta and Aradia in the great hall for lunch. Terezi forced herself to push back any nerves she might feel and try and eat something. Her eyes roamed the hall for someone, anyone that could be eyeing her up. 

“...and so I said, ‘no, that’s never going to work!’. But of course she didn’t listen, and ended up with her head so disproportioned-” Nepeta paused mid-sentence and looked over at Terezi. “I don’t think looking around the hall with a piece of lettuce hanging out of your mouth is going to entice anyone to come clean - especially since the ball is this evening.”

She snapped her head back towards her friend and pursed her lips as she sucked the lettuce into her mouth like it was a noodle. Nepeta was right, after all. If you’d waited all this time for something to happen, you wouldn’t ruin your whole plan by blowing cover hours before everything came to fruition.

“Yeah, you’re right. But it’s not going to stop me sniffing around for some last minute clues.”

“I didn’t think it would.” Nepeta giggled as she took a sip of pumpkin juice. “Anything popping out at you?”

“Not a bloody thing.”

“What if it’s someone like John?”

“Egbert? No way.” Terezi wrinkled up her nose at the mere thought of someone like John Egbert having a crush on her. Anyway, he seemed the type to just go about it and not fuck around with this song and dance.

“Ok, but what if it’s someone from Slytherin?” Aradia chipped in, raising an eyebrow as she spoke. “Would that change anything for you?”

“No, it won’t be.” She replied, but she didn’t sound too confident in her answer. For all she knew, it really could be someone from that house, but she wouldn’t have any way of knowing until they met. “I’m sure of it.”

She most certainly wasn’t.

The afternoon came and went in a blur of nerves and anxiety, and before anyone knew it, it was time to get ready for the ball. And it wasn’t just Terezi that was starting to feel the pressure, either. 

“Oh, _god_. My eyeliner fucked up, it fucked up, I fucked up, my life is _ruined_!!” She heard Nepeta cry in dismay from the bathroom. A small laugh escaped her mouth as she poked her head around the door to see how she was coping. 

She watched on as her friend frantically tried to fix her mistake with a makeup wipe before leaning in close to the mirror to reapply. Sometimes there were just some things that even magic couldn’t fix. Bless muggle beauty products. 

Terezi had already done her makeup, and was attempting to try and style her hair somewhat. The only unfortunate thing about this was that her hair - so used to being styled so that it flicked out at the ends - didn't want to do anything but stay how it was. In the end, she gave up trying to curl it and styled it how she normally would. It looked pretty nice, so why change it??

For once, she was the first one from her dorm to be ready. Aradia was currently halfway through styling her hair into a bun, and Nepeta was still fussing with the finishing touches of her makeup. There wasn't much for Terezi to do except hand Aradia hair clips and try not to throw up with nerves.

The ball was due to start at half 7; having read through her letter countless times, she knew that she needed to be down there by 7 at least. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she passed Aradia a clip with one hand, and with the other she idly (but lightly) played with the petals of the bright red flower on the corsage. The letter had said that it would last for eternity, but she didn't want to test it too much. It would be a little embarrassing to turn up having ripped the present her admirer had given her.

Checking the clock for what must’ve been the twentieth time this evening, she scolded herself for getting too worked up. It was half 6, a whole hour before the ball started, and half an hour before she had to be down. She knew this already, and yet here she was. Terezi resisted the urge to check the clock again to see if anything had changed in the past twenty seconds since the last time she looked at it.

Eventually it was getting close to 7pm, and Terezi felt like she could not stay in the dorm for any longer. Grabbing her mask, she shot her friends a quick explanation and rushed out of the door. She tried to keep her steps calm and controlled, lest she fall over in her sparkly red heels, but it was hard to push down her nerves - especially when everything was so close.

As she made her way down the staircases and towards the great hall, she nearly ran into a familiar figure sporting grey and red dress robes. Grabbing onto their shoulders to stop herself from tumbling, she took a quick look at who they were before either thanking them or telling them to piss off.

“Wanna watch where you’re going, Pyrope?” Karkat asked, furrowing his brows in recognition. Terezi noticed him give her a once-over and, if she wasn’t mistaken, saw his cheeks flare up slightly.

“I could say the same for you, Vantas.” She replied, making sure to mask any kind of jitters in her voice with feigned frustration. “Why are you even going down to the hall this early?”

“I couldn’t stand being in a dorm with Egbert and Tavros while they got ready and went on about their dates.”

“Don’t you have one?”

Karkat looked like he immediately regretted telling her that. The faint blush on his cheeks from earlier spread to making him look like a tomato, and she had to force herself not to laugh in his face. 

“I- Well- Shut up.” He grumbled, fumbling over his words in his rush to regain what little composure he had. “Do you not have one either?”

“Yes and no, I got that weird letter remember?” She said, suddenly remembering the red corsage she still had clutched in her hand. “It was the one I thought you’d sent.”

“Oh yeah, that. Like I said, it was probably just someone playing a horrible prank on you.”

“What, ‘cause you can’t imagine anyone would genuinely like me?” She teased, only really half joking. The thought alone of this being some setup was enough to send her stomach flipping off into oblivion. 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He replied, quietly cursing himself for running his mouth off. “Look, if it does end up being fake, would you maybe wanna- um, would you maybe want to hang with me for the night?”

Terezi looked up at him and smiled. Even though they’d had an awkward past, he still hadn’t changed from being a completely adorable nerd. 

“Sure, I’ll hang with you if this all turns out to be a cruel trick that will probably obliterate any trust I ever had in other people.” She laughed and quickly slipped the corsage onto her wrist. “Even if it isn’t, I’ll be sure to spare a dance or two for you. But there’s probably going to be more than a few people there without dates, so you should try and talk to someone!”

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

“Brilliant, just remember what I’m wearing and come pester me some time during the night if I haven’t come and found you first.” As they’d been talking, they’d made their way towards the great hall. “I have to go through to the garden right now, so I’ll see you later.”

Before he could reply, Terezi moved a hand up and patted his cheek with a snigger. He nodded, not saying anything as she slipped her plain grey mask on her face and started to walk towards the hall.

To her surprise, there were quite a few people there already; both in the foyer and the hall itself. The people in the foyer looked like they were waiting for dates or friends, and their masks were the same as hers - plain looking, nothing to define them from each other, and certainly not hiding their identities at all. As she walked towards the hall, she noticed that everyone in the hall looked stunning. Their masks had not only transformed themselves, but also parts of the wearer’s appearance. Terezi hung by the entrance, mesmerised by the whole scene. 

Everything was ice. The floor, the tables, the bar. Even the enchanted ceiling had transformed itself into a majesty of icicles and floating lights. As she watched, a girl passed by her and into the hall. All of a sudden, blue swirls surrounded her body and she gasped in surprise. Terezi was about to go and help her, but before she could move, the swirls around the girl cleared and she got a good look at what exactly Sassacre meant by an enchanted mask. 

The once blonde hair of the girl had been changed to a snowy white; her eyes were fully black; brilliantly white feathers adorned the top of her head and along her arms; and there were even small white fluffy wings sprouting from her shoulderblades. To put it simply, her mask had transformed itself and the girl into a swan. It was still very obviously a mask she was wearing, even though it had changed itself to the face of a swan, but the girl was completely unrecognisable from what she had been before. She giggled to herself before waltzing off towards a group of people who must’ve been her friends. 

The clock in the foyer chimed to show it was seven o’clock. Right, it was go time. Without letting herself hesitate, Terezi stepped across the threshold of the great hall, and tried to continue walking through the haze surrounding her. It kind of tingled, actually. It was over sooner than she would’ve thought after watching someone go through the transformation, but she wasn’t going to complain. Taking a look down at her hands, she noticed that her nails had grown a little longer and sharper, and her skin had a slight shimmer to it, so that when the light hit her body, it had a teal tint to it. 

Gigantic ice sculptures adorned the tables and windowsills of the hall, and she had to stop and admire them for a couple of seconds before she realised that she should keep going. If it wasn’t a trick, if it wasn’t fake, then if she was late she’d never find out who it was. 

Why did it even matter who it was anyway? It was never like she particularly cared for anyone in that way before, besides Karkat way back when. 

Oh shut up, now wasn’t the time to start questioning her own motives. She was in way too deep now to try and talk herself out of it. Every step she took through the hall and towards the garden behind it caused her heart to flutter and her stomach to fill with one extra butterfly. 

She was just about to step into the garden when she caught sight of her reflection and stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly, she stepped towards the mirror that’d caught her eye and lifted a hand up to gingerly touch her face.

Looking back at her in the reflective surface was someone completely new. Her eyes were completely red, no pupils, just two brilliantly red eyeballs staring back at her. It was equal parts scary and beautiful, in her opinion. Her hair had stayed relatively the same, although there was the exact same shimmer to it that her skin had; and there were teal scales adorning her skin - clustering around her neck and shoulders, and dissipating slowly as her eyes roamed down her arms. 

Two white conical horns stuck out of her head, so sharp and pointed towards the end that she suspected that she could easily injure someone with them if she wanted to. But that wasn’t even the most startling of changes to her appearance. Angling herself to see her back in the mirror, she gaped at the two red and teal wings that had sprouted on her shoulder blades. 

Her fingers carefully traced the scales on her shoulders before moving up her neck and to her cheek. The scales there were smaller, but much closer together. She moved them along her new snout and up the ridges up to the spikes that fanned out to subtly frame her face.

For all purposes of this ball, she had been transformed into a dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahah i'll get to them meeting in the next chapter, I promise.
> 
> If you liked it, please lemme know in the comments! Or leave a kudos or however you wanna show it? Thanks!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get something from Eridan's perspective!

How did one even begin to describe the amalgamation of wildfire, shit jokes, and vibrance that was Terezi Pyrope? Eridan was aware that his thoughts were somewhat of a cliché but at this point in time, he didn’t care. 

When he had first laid eyes on her, it was like he’d never known just how dull and grayscale his life had been up until that moment. She’d accidentally bumped into him as they were all waiting to be lead into the great hall for their sorting ceremony. Of course, his natural reaction had been to quickly turn and scowl at whoever the hell had dared to touch him, but as she shot him a slightly apologetic grin he had found it hard to try and sincerely keep up his sour expression.

Time seemed to have slowed down for him as she’d apologised, and then offered some joke on how he was the one wearing glasses, yet she was the one who was blind in the situation. In any other circumstance he would’ve scorned the other person, but he just found himself utterly unable to speak. A small part of Eridan had hoped she might be sorted into the same house as him, but even from a glance anyone could tell she was a natural-born Gryffindor. Whereas he… was not. A snobby, rich pureblood born into a family of proud Slytherins was almost a shoe-in for the house of the serpent. While his brother had been an exception, and pretty much the family disappointment, he was anything but. 

However, even though they had been separated by house, it didn’t stop his heart from leaping at the slightest glimpse of her smile; or the sweet, fruity scent that seemed to follow the girl around wherever she went. Over the years, his crush had only grown stronger, much to his downfall. Terezi seem to despise anything he did, and it wouldn’t really be a joint Gryffindor-Slytherin class without the two of them getting into some kind of petty argument. 

It never stopped him, though. Never caused him to cease sending her a valentine’s card each year; never halted his eyes as they stole small glances at her every now and again from across a classroom; and he was certain that nothing could ever stop the way she made his insides light up just with her mere presence. With the announcement of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, he’d made his mind up. It was only a happy coincidence that the ball he’d invited her to ended up being a masquerade. 

The night air was surprisingly pleasant for a winter evening in England. It wouldn't have surprised him if the school had put an enchantment on the grounds to stop everyone catching a nasty cold, just in time for the term restarting in a week or so. Eridan already had his mask on, one that had changed him into a stunningly ornate seahorse. Shiny black plates, made to look like war armour, formed the ridges and bumps along the snout, and up to his hair, with gold plating along the edges of them. Unlike some of the people he’d seen pass by, his own transformation definitely looked more mask-like around the eyes. His own dark brown skin peeked out from underneath eye holes in the armour, though now his irises had been transformed from their usual amber, to a brilliantly vibrant royal purple. 

He looked like a ridiculously expensive chess piece, one that nobles might toy with at their leisure. That fact alone pleased him to no end. He looked regal, and powerful, and yet oddly beautiful. And as he stood there, his stance almost ripped straight from the muggle military, he scanned the gardens for any sight of his date. 

The problem with it all, was that anyone could be her. These infernal enchanted masks made it almost impossible to tell who was who in the dim mood lighting. Eridan tapped his foot, his lips twisting into an impatient scowl, though he wasn't sure what he was getting mad about. Maybe he was already mad, especially for thinking someone like Terezi would ever bother with him. Even though he knew there was no way she would have known from the letters alone. Maybe she figured it out. Maybe he hadn't hidden his tracks well enough. Maybe that time in Potions class when she’d caught him staring-

There was no mistaking it. All of his anxiety washed away, only to be refreshed anew as he caught sight of what could only be Terezi Pyrope stepping out onto the veranda. She looked beautiful. She always did. But tonight was certainly something else. Eridan suddenly loved the masks they’d been given, adored them. His heart sprouted wings just like her own, and fluttered about his chest in a lovelorn frenzy. Eridan was so breathtaken that he almost forgot that she wouldn’t know who to look for. 

With a start, he snapped himself out of his daze, and made his way over to her. If it was even remotely possible, she looked even more beautiful close up than she had at a distance. He was used to putting on a cold, uncaring front on a day-to-day basis, but being this close, and seeing her look up at him with her eerie enchanted eyes, made his nerves threaten to completely take over. Swallowing thickly, he quickly took her hand, and dipped down into a bow to press a chaste kiss to it, as he tried to regroup his wits. 

“If I can be so incredibly forward,” He began, surprised that his voice didn't sound as shaky as he thought it would, “might I say that you’re looking especially irresistible tonight, Miss Pyrope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I'm so sorry that this took so long to come out, and that its so significantly shorter than usual too. I've just kind of been at a loss with this chapter for a while, but I was on an update kick for the past couple days so I thought 'Hey! Why not update this one too? It's only been... probably a year.'.
> 
> My friend Uforin drew a really cool piece of fanart for the last chapter (when it was released) and I'm honestly so grateful! I can't find it at the moment, but I'll have to go hunting through both of our blogs. 
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter will be coming out soon-ish. Or, failing that, in a shorter time than this one took (sweats). 
> 
> If you like what I do, and want to support it, why not take a trip to my ko-fi page? ==> https://ko-fi.com/kingspirals
> 
> If you can't donate, then leaving a Kudos or a comment really helps me too!!

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave comments and stuff, feedback is always appreciated. Idk how many chapters this is going to have, so we can have a /wild/ journey together.


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